the doctor

The new actor to play the lead role on Doctor Who, Matt Smith, has begun filming his first episodes. Thus, the paparazzi were able to snap some photos of his outfit. Despite being the youngest actor to play the role, he's dressed like the oldest. It's something of a full-color version of Patrick Troughton's outfit from the 1960's. Perhaps it's a hipster thing.

It's been suggested online that he's going for a science teacher look, and that would actually be pretty retro of the show (which was originally intended to teach children about science and history, although I'm not sure how meeting cavemen followed by Daleks teaches either).

Mr. Smith has pretty big shoes to fill, particularly considering that by the time he was considered of age to watch the show, it was off the air. Still, Steven Moffat is now the showrunner, so I'm confident that despite the loss of David Tennant and however the Doctor looks, it will still be among the best shows on television.

BBC Video will be releasing some new DVDs in North America come July that includes Torchwood: Children of Earth and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead. I immediately took note of the fact that nobody mentioned releasing the last Doctor Who Christmas special which was broadcast in England in December 2008, The Next Doctor.

Way back in 1996, the BBC co-produced a Doctor Who television movie with Fox in the United States which starred Paul McGann as the Doctor. Since then, the rights regarding reproduction or broadcast of that movie in North America has been somewhat convoluted at best. In the last Christmas special, a clip of Paul McGann from that TV movie was shown, and I cannot help but wonder if that clip is holding up release of the video.

Of course, it could simply be a case of the BBC waiting until Christmas or any one of a dozen other reasons. But I have a suspicious mind and I cannot help but think that it was a mistake for the BBC to ever co-produce Doctor Who with an American company if it is such a hindrance to the American release of their own DVDs.

The good Doctor is going home...sort of. BBC America has acquired first-run American rights for this year's Doctor Who specials. David Tennant's final episodes will appear on BBCA and not on Sy Fy.

This makes perfect sense, of course. Despite having science-fiction trappings, Doctor Who is, at its core, a British show. BBCA also runs other Brit science-fiction programs like Torchwood and Primeval (which runs on BBC rival ITV, but is still British), so having Doctor Who on it is a no-brainer.

With the Sci Fi Channel's "reimagining" to Sy Fy, I can even see why it would pass on the show this year and probably future years. No doubt Sy Fy wants to own future programming and not broadcast someone else's stuff (particularly something that could be perceived as the competition).

In short, it's another reason to call your cable company and request BBC America if you don't already have it. Believe me, I've tried.

This piece of news is from The Sun newspaper in England, so as always when I relay information from that particular source, take it with a grain of salt. With that in mind, The Sun is reporting that ex-Bond Timothy Dalton is in talks to appear as a villain in one or more of David Tennant's remaining Doctor Who specials.

While obviously Dalton would not play the main villain of the piece (that role has already been cast by a returning arch-nemesis), he's exactly the sort that Russell T. Davies would have play an evil businessman. I suspect that is the plan.

I'd be more impressed with they had gotten Roger Moore or Sean Connery to play a role in Who, but I think that would be pushing it.

For you Dalton fans (and I just loved him in the 80's Flash Gordon movie), it's just one more reason to tune in to the specials when they are broadcast later this year. Damn you, Sci Fi and/or BBCA for not broadcasting these specials in the U.S.!

Everybody loves a good mystery. Well maybe not everybody if the ratings for Harper's Island are any indication. But mysteries and suspense have been a part of television since it's inception. It's one thing for the plot to be full of mysteries. Things like "Who shot J.R.?" can become a part of popular culture. But J.R. himself wasn't a mystery, we knew him pretty well.

But there are those characters we don't know much about. Think about Benjamin Linus from Lost when he first appeared as Henry Gale among the Flight 815 survivors. There were so many secrets and mysteries surrounding him that we couldn't take our eyes off of him when he was on-screen. Well Ben's story may be more or less told, though something tells me there's still more to be gleaned, but there are plenty of familiar faces on television with not so familiar back-stories. And while Ben didn't make the list, that doesn't mean Lost went unrepresented.

Having recently read an article about the subject, I had to ask myself: why can't Doctor Who have an American version of the same show? If Life on Mars can be ported over (albeit unsuccessfully), why not bring over an Americanized Doctor?

Granted, the show couldn't use a police box (a definitively British icon) for the TARDIS. So? Use a phone booth. Also, if the show simply started from scratch, it wouldn't have 46 years of continuity to bog it down. No need to pay the estate of Terry Nation for use of the Daleks. Simply use the Doctor, the TARDIS, and whatever alien menaces the creators' imagination provides.

(Granted, there was a Doctor Who movie with American involvement in 1996 starring the British Paul McGann, which I personally didn't think was bad but others disagree with me.)

With this in mind, I have composed a list of the ten American actors (and by American, I include all of North America, so some Canadians will make the list) whom I feel could at least adequately play the Doctor in an Americanized version of the show.

I previously mentioned that a few old faces would be returning to Doctor Who in David Tennant's last hurrah for the series. Well, now there is one more old face to add to that list, as well as one or two new faces that are somewhat familiar to those that watch other Brit television programs.

There is some news regarding David Tennant's final trilogy story as the Doctor which involves the return of some familiar faces. Or, at the very least, some familiar faces hanging around the set, thus heavily implying that the characters will be used in the story.

The next Doctor Who special, "Planet of the Dead" will be airing on April 11th of this year, according to the BBC Press Office. The BBC website does list the air date as "unplaced"; however, Outpost Gallifrey is the source I've used for this news, and they've been pretty reliable in the past.

Is anybody else itching for the next Doctor Who special as much as I am? There hasn't been a new episode since December, and while I appreciate the need to give a franchise such as this a break, there's only so far reruns, comic books and audio dramas can go.

Of course, once the Easter special is done, it will be a long eight months until the three episodes that wrap up David Tennant's time in the role are broadcast. And who knows when the American broadcast will be. Perhaps Sy Fy will take the five episodes for this year and broadcast them as a mini-series like Torchwood: Children of Earth.

So now that we know the identity of the actor to play the next Doctor on Doctor Who, the Telegraph newspaper in the U.K. is now beginning speculation on the identity of the Doctor's next traveling companion. Since this is speculation, I would take it with a grain of salt. At least it's not from the other British "newspaper" the Sun.

They seem to think that the BBC and the producers will go with the semi-famous pop star route that proved successful with Billie Piper (The article throws out names like Lily Allen). It's a safe bet that whomever the Doctor's next companion is will be young and female.

Given the complete history of the show, companions have run the gamut. Since the reboot, I liked Rose and Martha and adored Donna (up until the end, which I fell flat a bit). For his remaining specials, David Tennant's Doctor will be pretty much companion-less. Who would you like to see join the next Doctor for a romp in the TARDIS?

We already mentioned something about it, but for those fans of the show who actually haven't read the news yet, here it is. As a warning, the video can only be watched from the U.K. (I never understood that particular habit of the BBC. Why do they limit who can view their videos like that?).

I am leaving the spoiler until after the jump so nobody decides to blow up my house in retaliation for ruining the surprise.

Doctor Who wasn't created by an individual. Rather, it was created by committee which included Sydney Newman, who was Head of Drama of the BBC at the time. As a result, the show is owned out-and-out by the BBC and no individual gets any royalties for the fundamental show (although individuals are credited with the creation of certain alien villains, such as the Daleks).

Concepts such as regeneration and Gallifrey were added later by various writers (even the Doctor's nemesis The Master was created by a group of writers for the show's 8th season). It's interesting how the memos between BBC executive describe him as an amnesiac from the future. That concept was obviously abandoned later.

It's a wonderful history lesson and gives some insight into a circumstance where television executives actually create something lasting and meaningful.

The BBC broadcast the pre-title sequence (about two minutes) of the Doctor Who Christmas Special slated for Christmas Day 2008 for their Children In Need special on November 14th. It can be viewed here on the BBC website. One word of caution: it can only be viewed from a European IP address, possibly even only a British one.

Fortunately, I have managed to avail myself of those two minutes and I'm already excited about the episode. While I look forward to seeing a new face as the Doctor, it's still a shame that next year is likely David Tennant's last year in the title role.

Based on his brief appearance, David Morrisey could be a potentially good Doctor. However, I am of the opinion that anybody who can have fun with the role can be a good Doctor, since the Doctor can be anybody. I'm very much looking forward to the day after Christmas, when I can download the...uh, I mean hear about the Christmas Special from those who have watched it.

Okay, let me preface this first: this tidbit of information comes directly from The Sun. Not the piece of crap North American tabloid but the piece of crap United Kingdom tabloid. This was the same paper that reported Doctor Who was ending after the fourth series, which ended up being refuted by millions of other reputable sources. So, take this information I write below with a grain of salt.